The Ruhr: A Story of Coal

Saturday!Woo!I don't know about you, but for me, that first week of 2018 seemed to take an eternity! Not that it was bad, mind you. I even got to play a new game. But there were several days where I w

Saturday!Woo!I don't know about you, but for me, that first week of 2018 seemed to take an eternity! Not that it was bad, mind you. I even got to play a new game. But there were several days where I was just going, "wait, it's not even noon yet?" But yeah, we're now firmly into the first weekend of the year. Hopefully you're able to get some gaming in. I will be. But even if you're unable to get out, you can still check out some reviews.

This week we have: Heaven and Ale, Favelas, Fallout: The Board Game, Codenames: Disney, Witches of the Revolution, LIberatores, The Ruhr: A Story of Coal, and Time's Up!: Title Recall.

Players begin the game by laying out a series of tiles on the main board spaces. Hexagonal tiles represent the ingredients needed to make beer (yeast, hops, wheat, water, and wood for the fire and/or barrels). Round tiles are monk tiles. These will be useful for activating the hexagonal resources and improving the skill of the brewmaster.

In Favelas, players attempt to beautify the favelas of Rio de Janeiro in a way to appease the city’s council. The game is played over three rounds and in each round, certain colors will be prized more highly, but players can influence which colors are in demand as well.

In Fallout, each player controls a wanderer from one of five classic factions: Vault Dweller, Wastelander, Super Mutant, Ghoul, and Brotherhood Outcast. Armed only with a starting item and a skill, they must venture out into the wasteland to try and score agenda points (victory points).

A game of Fallout is played in a series of rounds, with each player getting two actions on a turn. Different actions include: moving, exploring new tiles, fighting enemies, questing and encountering, and resting. After all players have had a turn, the round ends with a random group(s) of monsters activating and looking for wanderers to attack.

If you have every played Codenames before, you can skip down to the next section as, for the most part, nothing has changed.

In the family edition of the game, the cards are laid out in a 4×4 grid. Players can choose if they want to use the pictures side or the text side. Teams are formed and one player from each team will be the clue giver. The clue masters look at the secret key card that shows which cards in their grid belong to their team.

Witches of the Revolution is a cooperative game. You and your fellow players lead covens of witches determined to see a ?edgling nation achieve freedom from tyranny. You must recruit powerful allies, unleash potent relics, overcome menacing events, and ultimately fulfill four keystone objectives before time runs out. Will you specialize, or prepare for anything? Will assisting allies spread your resources too thin, or unlock success?

A pile of coal, a dream, a barge, and a river. It’s not much, but it’s all you have. You roll up your sleeves and start loading your barge with coal. It’s hard and it’s dirty, but it’s honest work and with some determination it might even prove lucrative. Barge loaded, you head down the river and start your deliveries. The money is nice – could even buy you a couple of luxuries – but you know better. You invest it in your business. Now things are rolling. The money’s coming in and it’s all paying off. All of this thanks to the river, all thanks to The Ruhr.

Party games are often the bane of a hobby gamer’s game time. When there are lots of people present, it can be awkward to suggest splitting up, but large-group party games are like gases: they have a way of filling whatever space they’re offered, and once you start playing them, they tend to eat up a whole game night, especially with casual players. So hosts must be careful that the party morsels they set before their guests are worthy, otherwise they’ll find themselves staring into either their friends’ horrifying exposed gums or their own soul, wondering how it has come to this.

Thankfully, there are lots of good hobby party games. But there are also sometimes excellent party games available where you least expect them: in the mass market. Time’s Up! is one of these.